That’s what my friend said when I sent him the photos of an empty Marks and Spencers. He was already packing his bags! What a dreadful shame and a massive disapointment for all Brits and many thousands of other ex-pats to whom M&S was an oasis. For many of us, it was the only place… Read More »
Who would your parents choose as a life partner for you given the opportunity? I am not sure I would leave that decision in the hands of anyone else but in China, there is the tradition of parents advertising their offspring to other similarly desperate parents trying to offload their own. People’s Square is the… Read More »
I will never tire of watching people dancing in the park. The dancers come in all shapes and sizes, from little schoolchildren to OAPs. And under the trees, coats lay in great piles, while those watching pull their closer around the neck. I walked up the avenue of the park and counted 6 groups of… Read More »
Now if you’ve ever seen a couple arguing in China you will notice how the men are cowering under the onslaught of abuse from the wife/girlfriend. I have never noticed a problem with Chinese females being downtrodden in China – quite the opposite. So maybe it’s just foreign women who feel they need empowerment. Female… Read More »
First there were the orange Mobike then I started seeing the green ones, then the big yellow ones and soon afterwards, on Donghu Lu I saw some blue ones. What is happening here? It’s like the United nations of bicycle rental in Shanghai. I mean how many do we need here? I went to what… Read More »
Maybe I have been in Shanghai too long and have forgotten what it was like to be an exotic creature. Those years in Nanjing were spent as the object of curiosity, a strange and exotic fruit from foreign lands. People stared at me, they pushed their kids towards me telling them to speak English to… Read More »
There was a Chinese doctor installed in one of the small rooms at the office today and we were encouraged to have a go. I went, with no special problems to be fixed, but just to have a look. He immediately plugged me into an electronic version of acupuncture. It was two heated pads which… Read More »
I cam home a few nights ago to find three of my neighbours (housemates) standing outside our front door. There was Mr Xiu, who lives under my kitchen. He’s a kind of caretaker who fixes things when they go wrong. Well, he has an arm and a leg which don’t work so shuffles around the… Read More »
I only went to Marks and Spencer for some socks now that winter is around the corner and I have packed away my flip flops and sandals. I wasn’t planning on buying any food but I saw a rack full of heavily discounted food and when I looked at it I couldn’t believe it was… Read More »
I eventually got around to registering myself on the Mobike app so that I could whizz along the streets like the other cool dudes on my orange wheels. I had to take a photo of my passport and then a selfie of me holding same passport and then pay a deposit using Wechat and then… Read More »